Disclaimer: Transformers: Animated and everything related belongs to the rightful company Hasbro. I am in no way shape or form making money off this.
Author's Notes: A fight for an AllSpark fragment has unexpected results when an unsuspecting mech lands on it and finds himself centuries younger. Anyone else would have been thrilled, but he's just confused and frustrated. It doesn't help when he can't stop thinking about a certain scout…
Title: Helllooooo Docbot!
Pairing: RatchetxBumblebee
Requested: tfamonk (AO3)
Ratchet looked around the factory the Autobots were calling their temporary "base of operations" with a critical optic. The large entertainment screen was off, paint wasn't splattered everywhere and used mops weren't scattered along the floor, the communication center was quiet, and there was no other bot here. For once he had the entire factory to himself, it gave him a chance to enjoy the solitude and maybe take a nap without any interruptions.
'So why can't I enjoy it?' he thought to himself. Everybot else was busy running around New Detroit for one reason or another and he opted to stay behind and finish several important programs he had started on. But the quiet was much more aggravating than if they were all here to begin with. His vents let out a strong burst of air through his system as he turned to head back to his quarters. 'Just not used to it, that's all,' he thought. Moving into his room he sat down at his work table and continued working on his project. Eventually he gave his full concentration to said project, muttering under his vents as his processor was preoccupied as his servos moved carefully. He completely failed to realize that one of his teammates had returned and wasn't bothering to keep quiet about it.
Tires squealed to a halt as a bright yellow compact drove into the living quarters, engine running idle for a few seconds before turning off. The car then transformed into the Autobot scout known as Bumblebee who had a scowl on his faceplates. "Totally not fair! I finally get a chance to spend some time with Sari and she's not even here!" he mumbled under his vents, crossing his servos over his chassis as he tapped his ped irritably. "And what's a "family reunion" anyway?" What's worse, his best (organic) friend wouldn't be back for at least two Earth weeks. There went all the funs thing he had planned for them to do together he just stood them grumbling to himself before he stopped and let his servos drop. "Primus! I'm starting to sound like grumpy old Ratchet!" he laughed, shaking his helm but he looked towards the hall that led to their rooms. He knew the old medic had chosen to stay behind, something about a program he wanted to finish, but he didn't say anything about leaving him alone. Grinning Bumblebee headed down and knocked on the door. "Yo Ratchet! You still in there?!" he called out loudly.
There was no answer but Bee frowned. Turning up his audio receivers he could hear something going on inside. "Helllooooo! You home, docbot?" he called out louder, knocking once more but he blinked when the door creaked open. Now the noise was getting louder and he peered inside. "Ratchet?"
Said medic was hunched over something on his worktable, back plates to the door. He was also muttering under his vents but it was too low to make out. Normally the minibot wouldn't have bothered the grumpy mech but not only was he bored he was very curious as to what had his undivided attention. In Bee's case, it was not a good combination. He found his peds taking him deeper into the room, moving closer to the medic then peered around him. He blinked, not recognizing the device he was working on but watching him work he was amazed at how dexterous his digits were, carefully soldering circuits together and attaching wires he moved closer, trying to get a better look. Normally this wouldn't have held his attention for as long as it did but the way he was moving was almost memorizing. It was similar to the way Prowl would practice his moves-
"What are you doing?!"
"GAH!" The minibot jerked back, optics wide he had completely forgot about the medbot as he leaned back only to lose his balance and hit the floor with a loud clang. He gripped the back of his helm where he had landed, wincing as his digits brushed over a slight dent. "Oow! I think I dented my processor!"
"Then it wasn't anything important," the medic grumbled but he got up from his seat and knelt before him as he sat up. "Don't move, you fell pretty hard," he said as he examined his helm. He saw the dent located along the base of one of the small horns and brushed a digit along it as gently as he could but grabbed the mech still when he jerked away. "Hold still!"
"It hurts!" Bee whined, wincing in discomfort. Ratchet muttered something but the scout sighed, letting air escape his vents. The very gentle touch had startled him more than hurt, especially when said digit brushed along the base of his horn. Everybot thought they were just decoration, part of his plating, but it was much more than that. Like seeker's wings his were sensitive to touch but they also registered sound vibrations; the servo gently pushed at the back of his helm, getting him to lower it. "How's it look, docbot?" he asked after a klik of silence.
"You dented it alright, it's deeper than I expected from such a short fall," he answered, frowning slightly. Pulling back he helped him onto his peds and pointed to the medical berth. "Sit and I'll pop it right out."
"Right." As the white and red mech turned to get his tools Bumblebee took a step and suddenly felt like he was going to fall over. He didn't say anything and forced himself to move, making it to the berth and pulling himself up. 'That was weird, I actually felt dizzy.' He never got dizzy, even the times he took Sari to the amusement park and went on some of the rides he never experienced anything like it.
Grabbing the necessary tools, the CMO moved over and had his patient lay down. Having him turn his helm to the side he began to get to work. "I thought you were patrolling the city with the others," he said after a few quiet kliks.
"That was Prowl and Optimus. Bulkhead went to the junk yard and I went to visit Sari, but she's outta town so I came back here," he explained, frowning slightly. "I shouted your designation when I came back but you didn't answer."
"I was busy working on something," he muttered, taking a tool he began the process of trying to pop the dent out. He had sent a burst of medical coding to numb the area so the scout wasn't shifting and making his job more difficult. "Haven't you heard of knocking?"
"I did knock! But you didn't answer so I came in. What are you fixing anyway?"
"I'm making a scanner that can detect the energy signals of AllSpark fragments. If it works, I can make more and we can search for more fragments."
"That sounds awesome! We can get all the shards before the 'Cons know what hit them!" Oh to see the look on Megadolt's faceplates if they managed to get all the shards before they could even search for one would be more than worth it. "You're a genius, Ratch!"
"I have to finish it first," he murmured, ignoring the small flicker of warmth at being complimented. He rarely received any form of acknowledgement, just the usual thanks when he finished repairs but this was different. "And how many times have I told ya not to call me that?"
"Aww but it's your designation! Just shorter," he grinned. For the next breem or two the medic finally managed to pop the dent out and was going to check to see if the protoform underneath was damaged but the alarm went off. Both mechs left the medical bay and quickly headed to the communication center.
Ratchet was quick to get to the center, pulling up a screen only to start cursing up a storm. "Of all the timing!" he growled out.
"What? What is it?" Bumblebee asked, trying very hard not to fall over. He was still having difficulty with his balance but he ignored it and listened to the medic.
"Optimus! Come in, we have an emergency!" the medic shouted.
"Optimus here, what's wrong?"
"I got a distress signal from Bulkhead! He stumbled across an AllSpark fragment but the Decepticons are trying to get it themselves!"
"What?!"
"He's at the scrapyard right now. He needs back-up-"
"Then what are we waiting for?!"
"Wha? B-Bumblebee-!"
"Bulkhead needs help and I'm gonna help him!" the scout shouted, running away from the communication center he transformed and peeled out, racing as fast as he could.
"Of all the glitching things!" Never had the medic wanted to strangle the energon out of anyone even as he transformed and raced after the scout, shouting at him to wait.
The scrapyard was a battle field as Bulkhead tried to keep from getting blasted by not only Blitzwing and Lugnut, but Starscream as well. It helped when the seeker blasted at the Decepticons when they tried getting too close to the fragment but he also didn't hesitate to open fire on him when the Autobot tried the same thing.
'At this rate they're gonna destroy the fragment before anybot has a chance to grab it!' he thought to himself.
"That fragment is mine!" the seeker screamed, flying in low but cried out in pain as his wing was encased in ice.
"Looky! I made a Con-sicle!" Random burst out laughing only to yelp when said seeker fired back at him.
Lugnut ignored the two as he hurled scrap metal aside in his search for the fragment. During the fight with the Autobot scum the fragment had gotten lost and they were unable to locate it. "I must find that fragment! For the glory of Lord Megatron himself!" he declared as he lifted the rusty remains of a mangled truck frame high above his helm. He failed to notice the wrecking ball as it hit him straight on, knocking him back onto his faceplates.
Bulkhead quickly retracted his wrecking ball, smirking to himself ever so slightly. "Next time try being quieter when you look for something!" he taunted. If he could find the shard first, he could try and sneak away before the others noticed! But it was easier said than done as he had no idea where the shard could be! "C'mon! Where did it go?" he mumbled to himself, digging through scrap he looked up just in time to see the bulky purple Decepticon run right into him, the two grappling as they tumbled down a steep incline of rusty and badly dented scraps of metal.
Bumblebee didn't bother to stop as he raced into the scrapyard, kicking up dirt and discarded bits of metal into the air, he kept moving even as he transformed into his robot mode. "Bulkhead! I'm here to help!" he shouted but there was no sign of his best friend. He had tried comming him on the way but he heard over his comm link was static, which meant he somehow damaged it when he fell earlier and didn't realize it but that didn't stop him from shouting. He cursed when he noticed Starscream and Blitzwing shooting at each other but there was no sign of the bulky Autobot. He shook his helm, trying to fight off another dizzy spell as he raced between tall piles of metal.
Blitzwing pulled back and fire another blast of ice, catching the traitorous SIC in the chassis and knocking him to the ground. He heard shouting and noticed the yellow scout shouting for his friend. "It vould seem ve have more uninvited guests," he said to himself as he landed and took careful aim. "Good bye, Autobot."
Ratchet skidded into the junk yard, pushing his engine as fast as he could he kept going and rammed front end first into the pile of junk the triple changer was standing atop of. It hurt a lot more than he thought it would but there was the satisfied yelp as the Decepticon was knocked to the ground only to be buried under the broken pile of trash as it fell over atop of him.
"Take that, ya slagger," the medic growled. He had received a comm link from both Optimus and Prowl that they were kliks away from their location but when he tried sending another comm to Bumblebee all he got back was static. ::Bulkhead, this is Ratchet. Where the scrap are you?:: he comm'ed him. He got his answer very unexpectantly.
A green frame grappling with a purple frame crashed through a wall of crushed cars behind the medic, trying to gain an upper servo on the other. Blue optics widen even as he lifted his servo, plates sliding back as his magnets pulled out. The overly loyal soldier never knew what hit him as he went flying off his opponent from the magnetic force, crashing into a pile of junk.
Bulkhead was hurting but as the static cleared from his optics he gave the medic a weak smile. "F-Found me," he stuttered lightly.
"Hold still so I can get a proper diagnostic scan," he muttered, holding him still until the scan finished. "You'll live, but what the slag were you thinking taking on Lugnut?!" he yelled even as he helped him to his peds.
"I-I didn't ha-have much of a cho-cho-choice." Frowning, the soft sparked mech took a klik to reset his vocalizer to stop the stuttering. "B-Besides, we gotta find that fragment before they do."
"Tell me something I don't know." On top of them he had to find Bumblebee before he tried to do something really glitchy, like take on Starscream and Blitzwing by himself!
On the other side of the scrapyard said minibot was still looking for his best friend, racing between tall piles of crushed vehicles and other items, but once in a while his optics would fill with static and his processor would ache. He braced himself against a broken piece of machinery, lifting a servo to his helm he winced as digits brushed over his sensory horn. The touch hurt way more than it normally should and his receiver was now malfunctioning, the sounds were either too loud or he couldn't hear anything at all. No doubt his brief "accident" really did affect his processor but he didn't have time to just sit there and let his self-repair deal with it.
'Gotta find Bulkhead—and the fragment,' he thought, running down a short distance he yelped in surprise as the piles of metal behind him exploded with enough force that it sent him flying into the air. Once more he landed in a rather undignified heap; his processor rattled painfully in his helm and he could feel it attempting to shut down but Bee forced it to remain online as he tried to get up.
"You walking malfunction! You will pay for that!" Starscream seethed angrily, one of his wings covered in some nasty looking scratches and the front of his chassis covered in scorch marks.
Blitzwing growled angrily as he forced himself onto his peds, one of his shoulder cannons sparking badly but the other lowered itself down. "It joo vho's going to pay for this!" Hothead yelled angrily, only for his faceplates to shift to the insane mech everybot called Random (for obvious reason). "I accept most major credit cards!" he cackled and unleashed a powerful blast of ice from the working cannon. It would have hit the seeker if he hadn't lifted his own servos up, firing at him repeatedly with his null ray rifles. They struck the triple changer who fell back, setting off the hyperfrost emitter into the air.
"Lousy glitch," the seeker muttered, trying hard to ignore the pain in his wing but he turned when he heard movement and sneered when he noticed Bumblebee who was still having difficulty trying to get up on his own two peds. "Autobots? Here?" His logistics were arguing that now would be a good reason to take off but like always he chose to ignore them and headed for the downed scout.
'I-I gotta get outta here!' Bumblebee thought to himself, ignoring the command to reboot his processor but just as he managed to get control over his stabilizers he was grabbed from behind and thrown backwards where he skidded onto his back plates. 'Least, I didn't hit my helm again,' he thought but it was a bittersweet moment as the seeker seemed to appear above him, a ped painfully pressing down on his chassis. "Get off, slagger!" he snapped, trying to push the ped off but stopped when he heard the null ray gun warming up.
"Where is the AllSpark fragment, Autobot?" he demanded, purposely pressing down with his ped until he heard a grunt of pain.
"Get bent!" The ped was lifted only to slam back down, creating a dent in the plating and cracking the false glass. "I-I don't know! I came here to find Bulkhead!"
"You could very well be lying, but that doesn't matter. I'll just use you as a means to get the fragments you Autofools gathered so far. Tell me, scout, would they do anything to make sure you were returned in one piece?"
"Frag you!"
"Interesting answer. Then I'll just have to leave them a message to prove how serious I am," he smirked, flexing the sharp claws on his servo he made to reach down, no doubt to do some serious harm but he never had the chance.
A strong burst of magnetic energy struck the distracted seeker, violently pulling him away from the scout only to smash into a slightly confused Blitzwing who had just recovered from being knocked onto his aft. Both mechs collided with a very loud (and no doubt painful) crash of metal on metal, their processors entering a temporary shutdown. Bumblebee continued to lay there, wondering what in the Pitt had just happened when he picked up someone shouting his designation.
"-blebee! Hey, you alright!?"
"B… Bulkhead? Izzat you?" he called out, forcing himself to sit up, his servo coming up to gingerly touch the heavy dent on his chassis.
Ratchet sighed in relief when he saw the minibot sitting up and didn't bother to stop the green mech from trying to run towards him. "Just stay there, we're on our way!" he shouted, hoping he had heard.
"Yeah… yeah, I don't wanna think about moving," he groaned to himself, still ignoring the command to reboot his systems when he noticed something shining just off to the side. Turning he noticed a black remote control toy car with yellow racing stripes going down the center. It was scratched up and three of its wheels were missing but something was glowing from inside. He reached out, grabbing it and gave it a shake. Something rattled so he shook it some more and stared as a fragment came tumbling out. Bee silently lifted the shard up to his optics, smiling weakly. "So that's where you've been… nice choice," he chuckled softly.
In that moment several things seemed to happen at once and it all seemed to happen in the blink of an eye as the humans would say. Bumblebee's audio gave out so he was pretty much deaf at the same moment Lugnut emerged from the other side. Bulkhead, while not built for speed, moved as fast as he could, yelling for the scout to move as he focused solely on the Decepticon. Ratchet was trying to get to the minibot to get him out of harm's way, readying his magnets just in case. In that same moment as the scout was trying to stand he saw his best friend racing at him and made to call out to him but his optics widen as he saw him firing his wrecking ball at him. He saw his lip plates moving and even though he couldn't hear what he was saying, he threw himself down and felt the vibrations as the wrecking ball sailed over him, connecting with Lugnut who refused to back down and gave the cable a hard yank, pulling the Autobot to him.
The CMO felt like his vents were going to give out as he made it to the scout's side, helping him sit up. He didn't have the luxury to finish what he started but it didn't stop him from pulling him up. "Let's get outta here!" he shouted at him and was about to lead him off when the scout grabbed at his arm. "Move it, kid-!"
"Look!" he shouted, pushing the worry aside that he could barely hear his own vocalizer and showed him the glowing fragment. "I found it!" he continued to shout, pleased with himself. He thought the medic would be happy but he was pulling at him to move. He winced when his audios turned back on and he turned in time to see Lugnut lifting the Autobot wrecker over his helm. "B-Bulkhead!"
"Inferior Autobot! The fragment shall belong to the Decepticons only!" he declared as he hurled his beaten opponent at the two Autobots.
Bumblebee didn't think twice about his actions as he pulled his servo free from his grip and then pushed him as hard as he could out of the way. The next thing he knew was the heavy mass of his best friend since boot camp slamming into him, knocking the two of them from the yelling medic. The AllSpark fragment soundlessly fell from his servo, glowing softly with an unnatural light but the scout didn't notice as he saw warnings fill his HUD, systems going offline one by one he knew his processor was entering emergency stasis lock until his injuries were repaired. He never heard the sound of missiles being launched, never realized his other teammates had located him and Bulkhead and were trying to get them to safety, never witness a sudden flash of a intensely bright light. All he knew was quiet darkness.
Systems were slowly coming online one by one, slowly rousing the medic from recharge with a bit of confusion. 'Auto repair complete… why the slag would I need auto re-?' A quick video of that slagging glitch Lugnut releasing his seemingly endless supply of missiles at him (as well as the entire junk yard). He remembered trying to use his EMP generator to get rid of the missiles and knock out Lugnut long enough for him to get away but something happened and he remembered being thrown back. 'I hit something and then there's this bright light… what the slag did I land on?' He couldn't remember, but whatever it was caused his entire system to malfunction and before he knew it he was forced into emergency stasis lock.
"Ratchet? Are you awake?" Optimus Prime asked, concern more than evident in his vocalizer.
"… what do you think?" he muttered, forcing his optics to open then online. It took a klik for the pixels to adjust but he vented a quiet sigh when he saw he was currently in his quarters. Forcing himself to sit up he was surprised that he didn't hear gears groaning as they usually did, in fact nothing so much as squeaked. "What happened?" he asked instead, turning so he was now sitting with his peds on the floor.
"Well, prowl and I managed to locate the three of you just as Lugnut was releasing his missiles and we were able to get Bumblebee and Bulkhead to safety. We were going to come help you but one of the missiles landed a short distance in front of you and the blast sent you flying back," he explained, straight to the point.
"Sounds about right." It could also explain the bright light he had seen briefly. "What about the fragment?"
"Excuse me?"
"The AllSpark fragment. Bumblebee found it, he showed it to me before he pushed me aside-" His optics widen as he remembered seeing the soft-sparked green mech smash into the smaller scout, the impact no doubt causing him to crash. He jumped to his peds, worried about the scout's previous injuries but the Prime stopped him. He was not in the mood and was prepared to shove the other Autobot out of his way but as he lifted his servos up he froze when he noticed something very different about the. Blinking several times he looked down at himself. His plating wasn't dinged or dented, there wasn't even a scratch. His servos were still scuffed at the tips of his digits, but there didn't appear to be as much wear on them. He couldn't hear the groan of old gears shifting inside, didn't hear anything rattling around as he moved, didn't have that annoying squeak his joints made that no amount of oil could get rid of. "Move, slag it!" he muttered as he pushed the Prime away and pulled up a piece of broken glass and stared at his faceplates. He wasn't by any stretch of the imagination a vain mech and he used it at times to check himself for any injuries he might have missed, but the faceplates staring at him were ones he had not seen for eons. He wanted to know what the frag happened but he could only stare openly at his reflection.
"Ratchet… I didn't realize it at first, but when you were thrown back, well, you landed on the fragment and it—shattered," the Prime said quietly. "The entire junk yard was covered in a bright light and when it died down Prowl and I found you where you had landed, looking like that."
"Wait. Are you saying, the power of that fragment did this!?" the medic demanded as he lowered the mirror to stare at the other mech. He looked uncertain but then again the power contained within the AllSpark was something even after millennia of study no bot could ever figure out. And it would explain why his frame was no longer creaking but as far as he could tell that was the extent. He still retained his memories, his experiences, and his demons of the past. "Never mind, where's Bumblebee?" he demanded.
"The medbay. Ratchet wait!" But the CMO ignore the order and immediately stormed from his room to the room next door, entering her saw that the minibot was laying on the medical berth, wires hooked up to the equipment he used when treating their injuries. He was dimly aware of Prowl standing off to the side but he ignored him and began reading off the data from the machinery.
'His chassis got damaged but nothing too serious, his processor was focused in stasis lock no doubt from his fall and then all the banging around he did,' he uttered to himself as he checked to make sure the wires were hooked up to the correct medical ports. He would be waking up from recharge within the solar cycle and his self-repair will have finished with everything. He blinked when he realized his servo was gently resting on the yellow helm before slowly pulling back and turned to both his Prime and the Cyber Ninja. "How long has he been out?"
"A little over a deca-cycle," Prowl answered. "As soon as we arrived back Optimus and I checked for any injuries we could treat."
"What about Bulkhead?"
"He's fine, his self-repair took care of any injuries he sustained and woke up a joor ago," Optimus explained as well. "Ratchet, perhaps you should rest-"
"I'll rest later. I want to make sure the kid—I mean Bumblebee, is fully functioning when he wakes up." He turned his back on them, looking at the data pad in his servo but he listened as the two mechs told him to comm him for anything and left, the door closing behind them. After a few kliks he set the data pad down and quietly looked down at the minibot. Things could have gone badly ad while they didn't have the fragment (not exactly) neither did the 'Cons. Venting softly he reached down and patted the smaller mech on the shoulder. "Get some rest, kid."
The first thing Bumblebee was aware of as his system booted up was a dull ache in his processor. Scans were coming back as good in his HUD and his repairs were all complete. 'What repairs?' he thought to himself even as he slowly pushed himself up so he was sitting. He felt servos helping him up and allowed them to steady him. "Thanks," he muttered as his optics came online, flickering before coming in clear.
"How many times am I gonna have to tell you not to rush in helm first?" came the familiar gruff tone.
"I lost track after the first hundred…" His words trailed off as he looked up at the CMO and reset his optics but the image before him didn't change. There was something very different about the medic but he wasn't exactly sure what it was. He jumped when he felt servos move along his helm and watched as he removed the cables from his data ports. He could only stare at his servos which looked like the plating had been completely replaced and buffed to a shine-
"Did you hear anything I just said?" The sudden question made him jump and he whirled to face the mech, telling himself that his faceplates were not getting heated right now.
"Um, y-yes?"
"Then what did I just say?"
Scrap! What did he just say? "Don't do it again?"
Ratchet muttered something under his vents but didn't smack the scout upside his helm as he was known to do. "You're all repaired so get outta here," he said, turning away from him to put everything away.
Bumblebee didn't know why he felt hurt even as he slowly slipped off the medical berth but he stood there, watching the white and red mech move around, studying his frame and realizing it wasn't just his servos that looked new, it was everything. The grumpy old medbot was much younger and the scout couldn't help but think that he looked good. His faceplates grew even warmer when the medic bent over to pick up a dropped tool and was quick to look away when he stood.
Ratchet was confused; what was he still doing here? Normally when he was done with his repairs or maintenance he was out of here before he could say anything and yet here he was, his faceplate practically glowing. "Now what?" he asked.
"I, um, I just… you know… ah, the scrapyard…?" Oh Primus, he wasn't making any sense at all! He jumped when Ratchet snapped at him and felt some of the heat fade away. "What happened to you?"
Blue optics blinked, vents cycling air heavily. "I was making sure that giant glitch Lugnut didn't blow you and Bulkhead to space dust. 'Cept one of those slagging missiles blew up and I was thrown back onto the AllSpark fragment and this happened," he explained, shrugging as he crossed his servos over his chassis. "Least the 'Cons don't have it."
Bee blinked, taking in all the data and was trying very hard to keep his lip plates from twitching into a smile. "Lemme get this straight, you pretty much landed on the AllSpark and you broke it?" The medic didn't have to say anything but his posture said it all and the yellow mech was struggling to stand as he burst out laughing, vents hitching and vocalizer releasing bursts of static. "Y-Y-You fell-l on i-i-it?"
"It's not funny!" the medic yelled angrily. Well, okay it might be a little bit funny—no wait, it wasn't! "G-get outta my medbay!" But the minibot was laughing so hard he couldn't even stand. Normally he would have thrown the annoying scout out but instead he growled and left for his own room, growling that he could still hear him laughing. It wasn't that funny!
Bumblebee wasn't the type to think before he raced, he was a take action kind of mech. But he was also the type that let his lip components run off before his processor and logic circuitry had a chance to stop him. Example: laughing at Ratchet for breaking the fragment by landing on it. He hadn't mean to laugh so hard but it was just too funny! But even if the mysterious powers made him younger it didn't do much for his personality components. He tried apologizing but the mech refused to listen, yelling at him to get outta the medbay and his rooms, that he was busy. And it wasn't just that, the scout was having an incredibly difficult time not staring at the mech when he did leave his room.
Ratchet was rude, short tempered, grouchy, and tended to hit those who didn't listen (like Bee) and was always yelling at everybot but the scout noted that his plating was brighter, his frame didn't have as many scratches or dents as before, and even his reaction times were much faster. It was now almost impossible to prank him! And he wasn't sure why but every time he thought about him or saw him doing something innocent like bending over to pick up something his cooling fans kicked into high gear. He lied that he was fine if anyone asked what was wrong and even if he admitted something was wrong what was he going to say, that his systems overheated when he thought of the medbot who was no doubt old enough to be his great-great-great grandcreator?
"This is so stupid!" Bee muttered to himself angrily, digits pressing the buttons of his controller rapidly. His video game character attacked his opponent in a flurry of punches and kicks. What normally would have brought him great joy was more of a stress reliever and even that wasn't helping. Frowning he skipped through the credits and got up from the couch. He had tried making it up to the medic, helping out in the medbay, trying to be nice, complimenting him but each attempt was a total failure and Ratchet would only give him a weird look and kept saying he needed a diagnosis scan to check for any errors or viruses plaguing his processor. It got to the point where he just gave up and tried to ignore the heat every time he thought of the grouchy medic.
"Don't even know why I'm thinking about him, all he does is yell and throw stuff," the scout muttered as he moved to the small pile of video games Sari had given him. But whenever he repaired him his touch was gentle and soothing, he was always looking out for everyone, and even though physically he was a lot younger that didn't mean he wasn't the same CMO he had known ever sense he signed onto the maintenance crew. "Just, gotta stop thinking 'bout him!" Frustrated he pulled open one of the video game cases, ready to pull the disc out but he watched as it flew out and rolled across the floor. Cursing Bee rushed after it only to miss it as it slid under the concrete-made couch. "Slagging pitt!" One of many curses he heard the medic utter but he reached down and wedged his servo underneath to try and grab the disc. "Oh c'mon! I haven't played that one yet!" He wedged his servo deeper, grunting as he struggled to reach the game.
Ratchet vented softly as he stepped out of his berthroom, rubbing the cables in the back of his neck. They were stiff from being hunched over his work table but he was finally done with that blasted scanner. But before he could test it out his HUD indicated low fuel reserves. 'Now's a good time as any for some refuel.' It was quiet in the factory and he remembered vaguely that the others were doing patrols. That was fine with him as he headed over to grab a cube of energon but he paused when he heard a grunt and turned, nearly dropping the cube at the sight.
Bumblebee was currently on his knees, chassis and helm pressed to the floor, one of his servos wedged deeply under the couch. He was grunting and making strange noises while muttering under his vents about some disc but all the medic could see was the brightly colored aft in the air, wiggling back and forth, grunting as he tried reaching-
"Got it!" the scout cheered as his digits managed to grab the disk and pulled it free, wincing slightly as the concrete scratched at his plating. Sitting on his knees he looked the disk over, glad to see it wasn't damaged he turned to get to his peds but froze when he saw the object of his "affections" standing there, looking at him with large optics. "Uh, hey Ratch. Did ya, need something?" he asked slowly. Why was he staring at him? Did he have something on his faceplates?
"!" It would be so easy to tell him what he needed right now but a small part of his processor that was still working spoke up and he found himself grinding his denta together hard enough to hurt. "Nothing," he growled out and quickly turned, heading back to his room. He thought he heard the minibot calling out to him but he refused to stop or acknowledge he had heard him. Once inside he closed the door behind it and found his vents were cycling air rapidly, his internal temperature gauge was high, activating his cooling system. For a brief klik he thought he was coming down with something but that wasn't the case. It had been a very long time since he felt like this about any bot but there was no denying that he had been very tempted to go over, wrap his servos around those slender hips and pull his aft back-
"No!" he growled to himself, refusing to let the image linger but his systems were still heating up, ignoring the command to stop. Even his logic circuitry was silent. "No, I am not thinking about him like that! He's just a kid!" he hissed to himself as he moved over to his work table, trying to find something he could focus on but he kept thinking back to the annoying minibot. Processor wise he may act like a sparkling but he didn't have the frame of one, that was for sure. He tried listing off his more annoying qualities in hopes of quelling this slagging heat coursing through him but his processor would counter it with a positive trait. The heat was beginning to get out of control and his fans were having a difficult time in keeping it contained. If he didn't find a way to alleviate it, he could suffer severe damage. And right now there was only one solution to his dilemma (really there were two solutions but he wasn't about to go down that path) so he forced himself to move over to his berth and laid down.
"Can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered to himself but there was no other choice. He allowed his optics to dim as he brought one of his servos up, tracing at the seams on his chassis he held back the moan as his digits began moving over the plating, purposely moving over sensitive seams and tracing them lightly at first before tracing harder. He couldn't remember the last time he had done this but his frame knew. He could feel his spark pulsing strongly in his chassis, wanting to open but he firmly kept it close, refusing the command even as his other servo came up, stroking the seams over his pelvic plating.
He should have kept his optics online even at their lowest setting but the moment they went offline his processor took over. Suddenly it wasn't his white digits roughly stroking the seams on his frame, these were yellow and were moving slowly, as though teasing him. The condensation was building, tiny droplets running between gaps in his plating, but as soon as it touched his protoform underneath it evaporated into steam. He locked his jaw shut, refusing to let a single moan escape but oh how he longed to as digits traced the seams along his cod piece, rubbing at the suddenly sensitive metal.
It was on his glossia to beg the scout to do more, to grab him by the back of his helm and force him to take him in, to overload in his oral cavity—it was so good, so hot, he arched his backstrut, shouting something and felt ready to overload when he heard a crash that rudely pulled him from his fantasy.
Bumblebee glanced down at the shattered energon cube on the floor he had dropped, his faceplates so bright a red he was sure he resembled a traffic light. "I-S-Sorry! Sorry! I was-just I-um-le-lemme clean th-this up!" he said quickly, falling over his words he knelt and began picking up the broken shards, ignoring the way the sharp edges pricked the sensitive tips of his digits. He was telling himself he did not see what he thought he saw, nor did he heard him call out his designation but as he opened his mouth plates to say something he flinched at the loud voice.
"What the slag is your malfunction?! Are you making it a habit to barge into another bot's berthroom with no warning, or just mine?!" Ratchet yelled at him, having scrambled off his berth he was struggling to retract his spike back into its housing but it was no use. He winced when he saw the hurt look in his optics but this was for the best, he had to clear things up before it went too far.
"But Ratch-"
"I told you don't call me that! Now get out!"
"But I… you…"
"But nothing! Why the frag are you in my berthroom anyway?! Don't you have some bot else to annoy the Pitt outta?!"
"If I'm so fragging annoying than how come you were moaning my designation right now?!" the scout suddenly snapped, hurling the broken shards down onto the floor as his stinging digits curled into fists. "I came here because I thought you wanted some slagging energon and I knocked but you didn't hear me! I woulda left but then I heard you moaning and I thought you were hurt! I came in because I was worried about ya and I find you doing—that while moaning my designation!" He saw the medic freeze in place and for a brief klik he wondered if he had crashed but he didn't care as he stormed forward, refusing to look down at the still leaking spike he was desperately trying to hide. "Admit it, docbot, you were moaning my designation while you were self 'facing! Admit it!"
"… You're right."
"Liar! You slagging, two-faced liar—wait." The minibot froze as the words finally pushed their way past his anger and he took a step away from the medic, optics wide. "You… say that again?"
"I said, you're right. I was, self-interfacing and I may have called out your designation but there's nothing more to it," he said quickly and refused to look at him, ignoring the way his spark seemed to twist in his chassis as he forced the words out. "You're my patient but your also my teammate and my friend. And I… I won't let it ruin what we have." His servos pulled into tight fists, struggling to say what needed to be said even if it hurt. "Why would a kid care about a broken down old bot like me, anyway."
Did… did he really think he didn't care about him? Okay sure he could be a major pain in the aft, and most of his pranks were revolved around seeing how quickly he could make him lose his temper, but that didn't mean he hated him. "Ratch…" He didn't know how to tell him he was wrong, that he did like him more than just as a teammate, that there was more to him than a grouchy war medic but he walked up to him, taking his clenched fist into his servo, slipping his digits inside and reached up with the other servo to gently tilt his helm to face him. "Stop treating me like a sparkling, you glitch and kiss me."
"Wha!?" Without any warning he was pulled down by a surprising strong minibot and kissed. And this wasn't a chaste peck on the lip plates, this was a deep, passionate kiss from someone who was clearly not a kid. Before he could stop himself he found himself kissing him back, sagging against the edge of his berth he squeezed his servo back tightly, the other reaching out and settling on a slender hip, clutching at it as his thick digits roughly caressed the hidden wires and cables between the gaps. He swallowed the soft gasp and deepen the kiss more as he thrust his glossia inside. It was his turn to moan as another glossia slid against his own, a small frame pressing into him, the heat rapidly building between them. Ratchet was losing himself in the kiss, thinking this was just some fevered image his processor was providing him but he broke the kiss as he felt a small servo wrap around his spike and began stroking it roughly, the movements jerky and uncoordinated but no less pleasurable.
"K-Kid-"
"Not a kid," came the breathless pant, both their cooling fans running on high and making it rather difficult to be heard over the sound.
"Bum-Bumblebee... s-stop… you, you don't know w-what you're doing." And he didn't, not really. His servo was moving too hard and too fast, clearly showing his inexperience in this sort of thing but the medic reached down to cover his servo with his own, halting his movements.
"But, I want this. I want you, Ratch." He did want him, and he knew he wanted him as well.
Systems froze, halting all movements for a few blessed kliks before they couldn't take it anymore and crashed. Frames went limp and both fell to the floor with a loud crash, both mechs knowing nothing but blessed darkness.
There was an annoying beeping sound that refused to be silenced no matter what Ratchet did. Apparently his fuel levels were low and required immediate refueling or emergency actions would be taken. But he did not want to get up and wouldn't get up even if the Pitt-spawn Megatron himself was right here, demanding for their meager AllSpark fragments to be handed over. He grumbled something very crude and rude under his vents as he pulled the warm frame closer to him, feeling the pleasant vibrations pulse nicely-
Wait. What vibrations? What warm frame?
Somewhere in the back of his processor, he felt a nagging piece of data biding its time, waiting to pop up and say "Told ya so!" followed by a small amount of regret. The problem was, he could not remember what the slag he did to warrant such a feeling! He tried to move his servos, online his optics, something but his systems were completely down and still had less than a breem before they came back online.
'There's must be something in my memory banks to told me how I fragged up,' he thought and pulled up his most recent back up. There was nothing unusual there so he moved on, fast-forwarding through bits of data. He paused when he remembered tending to Bumblebee when the alarm went off, followed by chasing the annoying scout out to the scrap yard. He then remembered a fight and being thrown in the air and landing on something that exploded.
'That's right… I landed on a fragment.' Now he remembered waking up joors later only to find himself much younger than before! He fast-forward through more memory clips, most of trivia but halted when he came across several images that made the energon in his cable freeze than rush rapidly. There were images of the scout on his berth, stabilizers being held open with his own servos, soft gray folds slick as drops of fresh lubricant dripped freely. More images, this time of the yellow scout sitting atop of him, this time he own spike buried into the lush valve, dark blue optics loving down at him with the look of being overcharged clear, sucking one of his digits between his derma plating. he wanted to protest this wasn't real but the images were all taken by him. He quickly rushed through them and came to a video file and hesitantly, opened it up. Even offline he swore he could feel his optics widening and mouth plates falling open as he watched from his point-of-view as he licked and suckled at the swollen, dripping folds of a delicious valve above him, his sensors tingling as he felt eager servos much smaller than his own and a hungry glossia playing with his spike. He could feel his system heating up as he continued watching, of him then takin the scout from behind, trapping him beneath him, growling such lewd comments into his audio, feel him tightening around him as he reached overload-!
Systems fully operational.
'Slag!' He forced his spark to stop racing in his chassis and took several kliks to calm down. Part of him wanted to immediately jerk away from the warm frame he now knew was Bumblebee, to deny this ever happening, but as annoying as the minibot was he couldn't hurt him. Slowly he onlined his optics and opened them. Everything was pixelated but he waited as they adjusted and settled. The medic looked around, seeing they were still laying on the floor of his berthroom and judging by the shadows on the walls it was well into night. Ignoring the comment about whether or not the rest of the team was aware of what he had done he looked down and found that he had both servos wrapped tightly around the yellow scout and he had curled up around him while they were down. He found himself wanted to nuzzled the small horns atop his helm, to stroke the bright plating but held back. He ran a quick scan to discover that his spike had withdrew into its housing but neither of their protective panels had slid close and there was evidence of dried fluids between both of them as well as on the floor and more dripping from his berth. In fact, his entire berthroom smelled like stale 'facing. So why the frag was it making his systems rumble in possessive pride?
'I really scrapped myself,' he thought and lifted a servo up to rub at his tired optics but froze when he noticed something. His servo wasn't looking quite as young as it used to, in fact he could now make out several stress marks and wear along the plating that had not been there before. He made to bring up his other servo to compare but a yellow and black was holding onto it and refused to let go. The CMO once more ran a scan over himself and realized, he was slowly getting older with each astrosecond that passed. He was very slowly, reverting back to his true age. He would have been happy with it, but… what about his scout? Would, would he even want an old bot like him anymore? Or had he been attracted to his younger frame?
Bee did not want to get up, he hadn't feel such a good recharge like that in stellar cycles! But his systems ignored his commands and booted up one by one. He pressed into the warm frame behind him, squeezing the servo tightly, rubbing his stabilizers together as the dried fluids were making his plating itch something fierce.
'Wait. What?' Why was he curled up against a frame and why was there fluids between his stabilizers? And why was his panel open? He wanted to panic and comm for help but a nervous field was pressing into his and he found himself relaxing immediately when he recognized it as Ratchet's. 'It's only docbot-'
Oh.
Oh!
Oh Primus… he didn't—no, wait. He did. Three. Fragging. Times. And yet, while his systems tingled as he slowly roused himself completely from recharge he found he wasn't disappointed, upset, or shamed. He felt—well, he felt slagging great! Better than great! Ow. Well, not better than great but pretty close to it! He felt eh medic shift, the servo clenched in his own sliding free only to help him up. He tried standing on his own but his stabilizers refused to bear his weight and he nearly crashed to the floor but found himself being lifted and set on a berth.
"Give it a klik," Ratchet said, wincing at how rough and ragged his voice box sounded. Nothing his self-repair couldn't handle but it would take time. He watched as sky blue optics came online and looked up at him. He was stunned when he found no negative emotions directed at him and his EM field was welcoming and reaching out towards him. He held back and tried to take on an air of professionalism. "How do you feel, kid?"
Kid? Why was he calling him a kid? He was no kid! Bumblebee made to yell at him but clamped his servos over his derma when all he could manage was a struggled burst of static. His servos moved to his throat but allowed them to be removed as the medic leaned in.
"Lemme have a look…" His servos were gentle as he examined the cables, not noticing any external injuries but another more focused scan revealed the problem. "You blew out your voice box completely, frying the circuit board in the process," he explained as he leaned back. "I have a spare one somewhere but you can't talk until then." He reached out to pat a joint only to flinch and pull his stabilizer back. He could see the hurt look in his optics and knew he had to deal with this now or else. "Kid-"
::Don't you dare say what I think you're gonna say!:: came a sharp tone over the comm link, startling the medic as he took him a klik to realize it was coming from the scout. ::I remember what happened last night, and I know you do too. So don't you dare thing about lying.::
Huh. The kid has some ball bearings on him afterall. "I remember. But I'm a medic first and I shouldn't have done it."
::Screw that! If you really wanted to stop you could've!:: servos gripped the edge of the berth, optics looking at the white and red mech heatedly before cooling, frame relaxing as the scout lifted a servo and took a limp one into his own, pulling the tense mech closer. ::Ratch… please, don't push me away. I wanted it, I wanted you to take my seal.::
"… Bee…" he wanted to believe him, to know that he was telling the truth, but his professional pride was telling him to end it right now. He stiffened as he felt servos pull him closer, dimly realizing he was standing between spread stabilizers and pulled down until he realized he was being kissed by the yellow mech. This kiss wasn't one of longing passionate, a primal desire to be fragged senseless. This one was of gentle persuasion, a desire to love and be loved in return, a need to be accepted and treasured. He answered it without processing it, answering back with a need of his own, a refuge in these warring times that never seemed to end, a sign of hope that things would get better eventually. After almost a full breem of kissing the two mech broke apart but didn't pull away from the other, forehelms resting against one another.
"Bee… I… the energy of the fragment, its…" he tried to tell him but the scout presse another kiss to his derma, reaching out to tracing a seam that was beginning to show wear.
::Didn't anybot tell you it's the personality circuitry that counts and not the plating?:: he teased, wrapping his servos around his neck cables and pulling him even closer as he felt his valve begin to throb. ::'Sides, with how old you are bet there's a lot of things you can show me.::
"Annoying little glitch," the medic growled, gently pushing the scout back on the berth, climbing atop of him. "'Bout time somebot taught you a lesson. And since I'm the one bot around, looks like it's up to me." Once more he caught those warm lip plates with his own, glossias sliding against one another he pressed their hips together, servos reaching out to rediscover sensitive seams. The CMO could always clean up later, and get his bright scout to help him out, whether he liked it or not.
Author's Notes: And the request for tfamonk has been completed! I meant to finish and post this for a while, but I wasn't sure how to go and then I didn't like how I was writing it so after waking from a nightmare finding out I can't sleep anymore I decided to try and finish.
tfamonk, I really hope you enjoyed this. I admit, I did laugh a bit when I wrote about Ratchet landing on the AllSpark fragment, shattering it and absorbing the magical energies from it. It's funny! Maybe not so funny to the docbot but still! I think I made Bee a bit more slutty in this chapter but isn't that the point of these series? To see our adorably fav yellow minibot getting it fragged? (innocent smile)
Once more, the unedited chapter can be found on my other profile. Until next time, fellow readers and writers! Ja ne! (waves) Now to try and finish the next chapter of 'Nightmare'!
Next up: Longarm/ShockwavexBumblebee (which I am surprising excited for)